Order of Canada recipients urge government to rethink Trans Mountain expansion - Canada Eh?
Forty-two Order of Canada recipients are urging the federal government to cancel the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and instead focus on the transition to a clean energy economy.
In an open letter to Canadians released on Thursday, the group, which includes prominent Canadians like Bonnie Sherr Klein, David Suzuki, Robert Bateman, Joy Kogawa and Gabor Maté, says the recent Federal Court of Appeal ruling quashing the government's approval of the pipeline is an opportunity to rethink the project, including the risks to Pacific Coast orca whales. Other recipients who have signed the letter include Dempsey Bob, George Bowering, Lorna Crozier, Alma Lee, Ann Mortifee, Jean Swanson, Dorothy Grant, Raffi Cavoukian, Libby Davies and several others.
"We must be prepared to act boldly for our grandchildren's future if we are to save our planet. What is possibly worth more?" said Bonnie Sherr Klein, film-maker and Officer of the Order of Canada. Sherr Klein, who is the mother of author Naomi Klein and Seth Klein, the former B.C. director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, said the group came together through word of mouth — it was a matter of Google searches and phone calls to people they knew.
Part of the impetus behind the letter came from B.C.'s second summer of devastating wildfires, which blanketed the province in smoke for weeks. Although she was convinced by the science that climate change was real, it was only an intellectual thought.
Pierre-Olivier Herbert, press secretary for the federal finance minister, responded to the group's letter in an email to National Observer.
"The Trans Mountain Expansion Project is an investment in Canada's future, and our Government continues to have every confidence in the project… We will ensure that the Project moves forward in the right way while meeting the high standards that Canadians expect when it comes to both protecting the environment and meeting our obligations to consult with Indigenous peoples," Herbert stated.
The Trans Mountain expansion, if built, would triple the capacity of an existing pipeline system, allowing it to ship up to 890,000 barrels of bitumen and other petroleum products from Alberta's oilpatch to a Burnaby terminal in Metro Vancouver. In August, the Federal Court of Appeal quashed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's approval of the project, saying the government failed to consult adequately with First Nations and didn't consider the effects of tanker traffic on marine life in the Pacific Ocean. At the same time, the federal government closed a deal to buy the pipeline from Kinder Morgan for $4.5 billion.
The group feels it has a role to speak out as citizens calling for an energy transition plan that respects First Nations, honours the Paris Accord commitments and creates a sustainable future.
"We can mobilize and rise successfully to these challenges only by Canadians working together," said Michael Clague, Order of Canada Member and community worker.